want to get a compaq v2575

so after posting in the "which laptop to buy" forum, I think the best laptop to suit my needs is one of the compaq 14".

I really like the compaq 2575.

But I hear a lot of people talking about the compaq v2000z series, and buying the barebone system, and ordering more ram from newegg or whatnot.

Can you guys recommend where to buy this laptop, and what sort of buying strategies I could do to get the most bang out of the bucks?

 

The V2575 belongs to the V2000z series. HP gives model numbers to the pre-configured versions it sells in retail stores. If you want to configure your own specifications then you can buy directly from HP(US only) or from retailers who allow customization(office depot, costco etc).

HP do not sell barebone system. Most people buy their own RAM since it is cheaper to buy aftermarket RAM than getting it from HP. So most people order the minimum amount from HP(256MB) and add aftermarket RAM.

The first thing I would suggest that you goto HPshopping and configure the laptop to your specifications and look around retail stores(either you can goto the store or look at their websites online) and see if any of the models meet your requirements(it might not be exact match but close enough to your configuration). Check their prices and see which is cheaper and make your decision. Also do remember that custom built models have to be built and then shipped to you. Usually this takes around 15 days where as retail models you can just walk into the store and buy one.

 

I went to hpshopping and compared teh price.

they both seem to be quite similar in price, so I was thinking of buy this laptop from futureshop
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...d=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10070871&catid=#MoreInfo

thing is, would I be able to add ddr400/ddrII ram, or would I be restricted to only standard ddr333 ram?

and will a 4200rpm harddrive be a tad slow for loading up stuff?

thanks

 

Ah... you are in Canada, then your only option would be to get pre-configured models since HP do not sell customized versions in Canada.

DDR and DDRII are not interchangable and currently AMD cpu's only support DDR memory. So you can use any 200 pin DDR SODIMM upto DDR400.

Well, if you have used faster HDD's in laptops before then the 4200rpm HDD will feel slow. It wont be too slow that it will impede your use of the laptop. But in any case it is a good idea to get a faster HDD and they are easily replacable.

 

hrm
so i was thinking of something liek this
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...angid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10070871&catid=11520

I have a friend who is willing to buy that harddrive off of me, so i was thinking of upgrading teh harddrive to something with 8mb cache 5400 rpm 60 gig.


how about the ram?
the ram included with the laptop is probably 333mhz
is it possible to add another stick of 512 ddr400 to it?
would there be much performance boost?

 

Sure you can use DDR400 RAM, but if you are mixing RAM of 2 different speeds, then both will run at the same speed as the slowest one. In your case, it would be DDR333. But then again increasing to 1GB is going to give very good performance boost. The speed difference is not noticable with average use but will only manifest itself in benchmarks.

 

are there any particular harddrive brand I should lookout for?

 

I would suggest seagate. Then WD or Hitachi.

 

Miner,

From your signature, you own AS3003WLCi. I look into this model for some time due to the price and look. I used to have as3009wlci bought from CC, and I was annoyed by the fan noise with high pitch. I wonder if this happen with your lappy. Thank you

 

Hitachi or Seagate. they are the 2 best in the market. Fujitsu, WD are a bit slow but are generally quiet. Stay away from the Toshiba's. They suffer from poor performance and are noisy. Their drives with 5400rpm 16mb of cache manage to perform at the same level as other 5400rpm drives with 8mb cache.

Yeah, the fans' bit noisier than it should have been. But I am more or less have become used to the sound. So it does not bother me at all.

 

ok, how about battery life.

the model I'm planning to get has a recommended 3 hour battery time.

what kind of battery time is typical, and would would it be after I add in a 5400 rpm with 8mb cache.

and also, is there a difference between the turio ml-32 and turion ml-34?

 

The average battery life(according to the reviews and from people who have posted here) with the 6 cell battery is around ~2.5hrs with general use. There was a thread posted a while back(if I remember correctly) where users posted the battery life figures of the V2000z. Check that to get a good idea on the battery life.

The 5400rpm HDD should not impact the battery life at all. Modern HDD's are pretty good in terms of power consumption and most 5400rpm HDD's consume the same amount of power as the 4200rom versions.

The ML-32 and the ML34 both run at 1.8GHz, but the main difference being that the ML32 has 512K L2 cache whereas the ML34 has 1MB L2 cache. The performance difference between them is pretty minimal. So either shoudl be fine but get the ML34 if the price is not too steep.